Have you guys seen those yarn wrapped wire words all over pinterest? Well, those were obviously the inspiration for this little project, but I was envisioning something a little different for our bedroom. So I played around with a few shapes and landed on an arrow. I actually thought this project would be a bit tedious. I was picturing myself wrapping wire with yarn forever. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that it went super fast! I had that baby wrapped in under an hour. BAM. Maybe I should make more of these.
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what you’ll need:
- wire. I picked up the thickest gauge craft wire I could find at Michaels. It’s still a bit flimsy, so if you can get your hands on something thicker, it would be better. I’ve seen people use wire re-enforced clothesline. But I don’t think it’s easy to find.
- a nice, thick and bulky yarn. Your run of the mill, regular yarn is too thin and will just add to the flimsiness.
- super glue
- needle nose pliers (optional)
- scissors
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Now continue reading after the jump to see how to do it!
1. Cut a 26” piece of wire. Do your best to make it as straight as possible. Get out all of those kinks! Don’t worry if it’s not completely perfect, though. You’ll most likely have to adjust throughout anyway.
2. Measure and bend into your arrow shape, following the diagram I included above. You can use a pair of needle nose pliers, or just your fingers. It works just as well, to be honest.
3. Take that extra 1/2” left at both the beginning and end points, and wrap them around the main part of the arrow to secure.
4. Time to start wrapping! Heres how to hide your yarn ends -start by placing your yarn alongside the length of the wire, right near where you joined the wire together in the middle. Make sure it is going in the opposite direction to which you are going to wrap. Glue down. Once dry, bring the yarn behind, up, and around the middle, covering the joint. Start wrapping, so that you end up covering that glued tail end.
5. Keep wrapping around the wire. Place a dab of glue every couple of inches, and at every corner.
6. When you get all the way around the “triangle”, just continue right onto the “stick”. Continue wrapping and glueing.
7. When you want to change colors, theres no need to stop and cut your original yarn. First, glue your original yarn where you stop and want to switch.
8. While pulling / holding the original yarn alongside the length of the wire, start your next color by hiding the end just like you did in the beginning. Glue down along the length of the wire, going in the wrong direction. Once dry, start wrapping back along the right way, covering both that glued end and the original yarn.
9. When you are done with your color, glue down and leave a small tail. Pick up your original yarn and continue wrapping on, covering that tail.
10. Repeat this for as many different times and colors you want to add!
11. Continue on wrapping around the last part of the “stick” and onto the “feather”. You’re in the home stretch now! When you get all the way done, glue and snip.
And that’s it! Admire your handiwork. Comment on how that didn’t take much time at all. Make another one! Hang them up.
Tip - because it is so lightweight, try using sewing pins to hang your arrow instead of nails. They’ll be nearly invisible because they’re so small, and they will leave a lot smaller holes in your wall. Yay!
